Basic Demoman strategy

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Not one of ya's going to survive this! Click to listen — The Demoman

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The Demoman is a tough, mobile, high-damage class using explosive weapons almost exclusively. He has some of the highest damage output in the game, but he is vulnerable to foes up close. His grenades are difficult to aim and his stickybombs have significant arming times. That said, with skill he can even outclass a Heavy's damage, and he destroys Sentry Gun nests with ease.

General

• Use the Sticky bombs to sticky jump. This is similar to the Soldier's Rocket jump technique. It allows you to move over large distances quickly or get into hard to reach places.

• To take out Sentry Guns around corners, Sticky bombs are often more useful than the Grenade Launcher. Simply throw a few Sticky bombs next to the Sentry Gun and detonate.

• The Demoman has the only indirect fire weapons in the game. Use this to your advantage; why face an enemy when you can hit him from out of view?

• Use your Stickybomb Launcher as your primary weapon. Use the Grenade Launcher as a backup for foes in your face.

• Remember that these are projectile weapons. Aim ahead!

Weapon Specific

A list of useful tidbits about the Demoman's tools.

Grenade Launcher

• Grenades explode on contact with an enemy, provided they have not bounced first.

• Grenades explode on a timer after they touch a surface, and they don't lose any damage with distance. These "rollers" can be spammed towards an opponent or area indiscriminately to stop an escape or to kill a foe at extreme ranges.

• Like most other TF2 weapons, accuracy can only be relied on at close quarters. Grenades launch to the right of the cross-hair, so you should lead to the left to compensate. This is especially important for dealing with the faster classes such as Pyros and Scouts.

• Aim for direct hits whenever possible. The Grenade Launcher fires very fast and deals excellent damage, making this weapon a serious killer in very skilled hands.

• If your timing is good, you can use the Grenade Launcher to boost your jumps. Fire into a corner, then jump on top of it to propel yourself upwards. Keep in mind that this method takes a great deal more skill, timing and time to set up than sticky jumping, but it will damage your health less.

Loch-n-Load

• The Loch-n-Load deals more damage and has the same splash as the regular Grenade Launcher. Use it against single targets and against groups. You have a good chance of killing multiple foes.
• Loch grenades are high velocity, but they shatter without exploding if they don't hit a foe, and you only have two shots before you'll reload. Practice your direct hits.
• Note that, whilst the Loch-n-Load is the Demoman equivalent of the Direct Hit (i.e. higher speed and damage, yet smaller splash and clip), it is important to remember that distance is necessary; whilst the Direct Hit causes small amounts of self harm, being hit by your own Loch-and-Load blast can easily lead to death.

Stickybomb Launcher

• The Stickybomb Launcher has a very large splash and deals excellent damage. Furthermore, you can charge your shots to launch them further. Use this weapon like a remotely detonated Rocket Launcher with a huge clip.

• When setting Sticky traps, you should hide them in unusual positions like around a corner, above a doorway, to one side of the doorjamb, on the ceiling, just below the edge of a cliff, and so forth. If your enemy can't see the trap, you have a better chance of killing them.

• Three stickies will destroy any Sentry Gun not affected by the Wrangler. You can often destroy the Engineer and any other nearby buildings at the same time.

• If an enemy engages you in close quarters, you may retreat by moving backward, dropping stickybombs at your feet. If he continues pursuit, detonate.

• Stickies can herd a foe. Cover their retreat, then fire Stickies directly at them. They'll either take the Stickies under their feet or retreat into your trap.

• If you know you're about to die, detonate what stickies you have. You might catch someone in the blast. It is better to have a small chance of killing an enemy than no chance at all if you die and lose your placed sticky bombs.

Scottish Resistance

• The SR is most effective on defense because you can place a large number of Stickies very quickly and selectively detonate only some of them.

• Don't let the long arming delay discourage you. The weapon can carpet an area with stickies, and they still explode fast enough to pose a threat in direct combat.

• When defending anywhere, especially places like tunnels, set up multiple traps and detonate them as foes approach. Set fallback traps but strive not to be within their blast radius when detonating.

• This weapon fires very quickly. Herding a foe is even easier, and you can place a fatal amount of Stickies almost instantly.

• While you cannot detonate all of your sticky bombs at once, you can detonate them in rapid succession by holding down the detonate key (Right-Mouse Button by default) and swinging your view across all of your stickybombs.

• Remember that the Scottish Resistance can destroy enemy Sticky bombs. Wipe out enemy traps!

Chargin' Targe

• Keep an eye on your Charge meter during your attack. Its color will tell you the effects of the Targe. Green is a recently-activated charge (less than 50% used), yellow means your next attack will be a Mini-Crit, and red means that your next melee attack will be a full strength Critical hit. The red zone also means that colliding with an enemy will cause the Targe itself to inflict damage.

• You must react quickly, as the 'Red Zone' will only be active during the last 25% of the Charge.

• You can easily instakill any unaware opponent from a surprising range.

• If you're in danger or on fire, use the charge to quickly move out of the battle zone to find a Medic or Health pack.

• Do not attempt to charge Heavies unless they are distracted or heavily damaged. They are your most dangerous foe at melee range.

• The Force-A-Nature's knockback, the Flamethrower's compression blast, Sentry Guns, arrows, Natascha's speed reduction and the explosive force of grenades, rockets and Sticky bombs will all interrupt your charge. Use your Grenade Launcher exclusively until the opportunity arises to make a clean attack. Then charge!

Bottle / Frying Pan

• The Bottle should be used when enemies are too close to reliably kill with the Grenade Launcher.

• The Bottle will break on a Critical hit. This is purely visual and has no game effect.

• The Bottle has no drawbacks, so if you don't have a specific purpose, don't use a different melee weapon.

Eyelander / Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker

• In most cases, the Eyelander should not be used without the Chargin' Targe.

• A Demoman with stored decapitations can switch loadouts as long as he doesn't switch out the Eyelander. A smart Demoman can use the Chargin' Targe until he accumulates 4 heads, then return to a resupply cabinet and switch to the Stickybomb Launcher.

• This strategy will not work if "Automatically respawn after loadout changes in respawn zones" is checked in Options-> Multiplayer-> Advanced, as changing weapons respawns the player and resets the player's head count.

• The Eyelander has a very long range for a melee weapon. Get comfortable with its area of effect and take this into account when going for a critical charge.

• Don't try to use the Eyelander all the time. Stick with the Grenade Launcher until the opportunity arises for a clean kill. You should avoid dying with heads whenever possible.

• Be aware that the Eyelander 'hits' near the beginning of the swing animation, rather than at the middle. Keep this in mind so you don't accidentally 'under-shoot' an attack, especially when using the sword in conjunction with the Chargin' Targe.

• Decapitating an enemy Demoman who also has the Eyelander equipped allows you to steal any Heads he has accumulated.

Pain Train

• The Pain Train is situational, so unequip this item if you're playing defense or a game mode without capturing. Its ability will be useless and you'll take more damage from bullets.

Scotsman's Skullcutter

• The Skullcutter is best used with the Chargin' Targe or in closed environments.

• It has Eyelander-style range. Learn the distance and you'll rarely miss.

• Keep in mind your reduced movement speed. Running foes will be nearly impossible to chase. Also note that your charge speed with the Chargin' Targe is also affected reducing your charge distance.

• A Skullcutter does significantly more damage. Its Critical hit can kill a Soldier or a fully overhealed Medic in one hit.

Claidheamohmor

• The Claidheamohmor is designed for the Chargin' Targe. The extra 0.5s of Charge will extend your charge distance by 25%. With no random Crits, rely on your charge for a guaranteed Critical hit.

• It has extended melee range like the Eyelander. Use it to your advantage.

Ullapool Caber

• The Ullapool Caber is useful as a last ditch weapon. The explosion often deals enough damage to kill your enemy.

• It's not usually a good strategy to use it with the Chargin' Targe, but it can be very useful in Medieval Mode. Enemies are likely to cluster on a point, the Caber is this mode's only splash-damage weapon, and using the Targe will guarantee critical damage.

• You can grenade jump with the Caber by crouch-jumping while you strike the ground or a wall.

• Don't be afraid to use the grenade against clustered foes, but remember that you have other explosives which are far better and won't hurt you in the process.

• Once the explosion is used, its melee power drops drastically, only allowing you to deal about 35 damage per hit. Never rely on it in a close combat situation.

See also

• Community Demoman strategy
• Demoman match-ups
• Team strategy